Tony Twist and his three children - thirteen year old twins Pete and Linda and nine year old Bronson - move to an old lighthouse on the rugged Australian Coast. They soon discover that the ... See full summary »

A freak accident sends three Australian kids into a computer-generated world of pirates and swashbuckling heroes. The kids must help a group of adventurers find a buried treasure and a way back to the real world.

Eliza Thornberry is not your ordinary kid. It's not just because she travels the world in an RV with her parents Nigel and Marrianne, famous nature show hosts. Eliza is doubly unique ... See full summary »

Neri - the title character - is a young girl with an affinity for water, super-human strength, the ability to swim long distances, and super-human lung capacity. She lives alone on an ... See full summary »

The everyday life of Arnold, a 4th-grader in a nameless city that resembles Brooklyn, New York, who lives in a multi-racial boarding house with his grandparents and a motley assortment of neighbors and friends.

Rugrats is a show about 4 babies, Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and Phil and Lil Deville. As we see their lives unravel, we get to hear them talk. On the sidelines are Tommy's mean cousin... See full summary »

When Penelope Townes discovers a long-forgotten old trunk in the attic of her decaying mansion home, her curiosity leads her to check its contents. In it, she finds a beautiful, but dusty, ... See full summary »

14-year-old Ben Johnson lives in a picturesque (if you are an adult), boring (if you are a teenager), country town of Werrinup in Western Australia. However, Ben's life is turned upside ... See full summary »

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I was the same age as the title character "Wayne" in this show when it was aired in Australia back in 1996. And what a time the '90s were. It was a time when ABC Kids Television was great and we could catch "Ahhh! Real Monsters", "Hey Arnold", and "Superted" in one sitting. Or catch the fresh new show "Rugrats" and the old great early "Simpsons" (OK, that wasn't ABC, but you get my point.) These days I look at the cheaply made, dull crap that passes for kids programs and feel insulted for this generation of youngsters.

I remember "The Wayne Manifesto" fondly - easily the best written, acted and plain funny Australian children's TV show I can remember. Wayne was a funny guy, and his exploits with his mates, family and teachers were real and fresh. In the first few episodes the family were still awaiting the arrival of their furniture, which proved elusive on the many cargo ships and trucks across Australia. And often little sequences would pass in each episode only to be revealed as what Wayne was hoping to happen, and then the show would snap back to reality while Wayne mumbled "But that bit's a lie...." and reveal the real situation, often much worse.

It wasn't quite "The Office" or "Arrested Development" but it was as close as my primary school generation ever got to such subtle, sometimes cynical and often bittersweet humour. And it would have made a great export for foreign countries to show people what a real Australian childhood was like. As for my take on the show now? Well, I wouldn't know since I haven't seen it since, but it's probably been repeated in the mornings on ABC, but that's prime sleep time now.

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